Over the weekend, Hard Candy was cast into the “Not bad, but probably not going to watch this film again” pile, not so much because of the pedophile-based subject matter, but because – in general – anyone being castrated on screen freaks me out. Although, for the record, I am very anti-pedophilia.
Despite being Salvador Dali’s worst nightmare, Hard Candy has merit, more so as to how the story is told rather than the content. I think it’s hard to argue for molestation or side with anyone who “races [a teenage girl] to the next drink” instead of taking “the drink away.” Thus, the intrigue of the film is tethered to the pacing of the film, at times frenetic and at times slowed, which also parallels Haley (Ellen Page), our protagonist who is convinced that the older man she’s been speaking to over an instant-message-style chat is a pedophile bent on seducing her – or any other young woman.
That said, Page truly carries this film, though Patrick Wilson (Jeff in the film) also gives a fine performance as a man steeped in denial. At the same time, it’s Page’s performance that overshadows the character that has been written for her. Her fluid changes of personality, from a potentially insane sadist to an intelligent avenger, are seamless, and as such, the red herrings and traps that writer Brian Nelson sets for the viewers are not as transparent as they could be.
Take for example when Haley provides Jeff with a list of reasons that she shouldn’t go back to his apartment, telling him “You wouldn’t take advantage of me because you’ve been seen with me today […] three, you said it would be insane for me to come over, and four out of five doctors agree that I’m actually insane.” Here, Haley establishes herself as the villain and casts doubt in the mind of the viewer about whether or not the cat and mouse game she plays with Jeff is justified or a twisted manifestation of someone who has gone off her meds.
However, by the third act of the film, we find out the truth and the entire previous dialog is merely “clever,” used to extend a script and keep the audience guessing, but this is cheating because the reveal doesn’t match the hype. Rather, the cheat is used to make us squirm just a bit more during Jeff’s castration. (I’ll assume it’s unnecessary to call it “undesired”?)
Despite the traps and tricks employed in the script, an overall theme is apparent, and it’s not that pedophilia is terrible: that just seems too obvious. Rather, the film explores our internet personas versus our real-life personas. Cliché? Sure, but it also exposes how we’ve allowed the symbology of letters, screen names, and avatars to define us, most notably when Haley adopts the sobriquet Thonggrrrl, which is triply clever inasmuch as the name evokes a handful of connotations, all designed to lure Jeff.
First off, and most obviously, “Thong” is a symbol of sex and sexy women – though the parade of women who let their thongs crest above their waistband in a less than sexy fashion should probably monitor their undergarments a bit more closely.
As an addendum to “Thong,” we find “grrr,” a blend of flirtation and bestial carnality, harkening images of provocative seduction and excitement.
And, as a whole, the screen name can also be seen as a declaration that Haley is “Th[e]on[e]gg[i]rrrl,” a moniker kindling the hope of a lonely man, which we find out that Jeff is: lonely and confused. Does this justify his previous actions? Not at all, but his interpretation of chat-speak and online vernacular is symbolic of how our language has begun to define us in a virtual world by advertising clever sobriquets that create illusory manifestations as opposed to merely masking an evident flaw in a face-to-face environment.
That aside, the uses of “thong,” “grrr,” and “Th[e]on[e]gg[i]rrrl” are additionally misleading in that Haley re-imagines herself, or rather, creates the illusion that she is more mature, which simultaneously fools Jeff into seeing her in a fabricated light. In the end, her ruse is justified because she catches him in a lie spun by multiply-created Haley avatars, but Hard Candy also proffers the utilization of such a tactic for a darker cause – not necessarily to lure a pedophile – but to fool ourselves and others into believing that we are something artificial.
